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Davis Wilson, at home at the Artists Quarter (2013)
Author’s Note. Much of this article is drawn from my interview with Davis in 2006, with thanks to Al Iverson for providing much of the background information.
“Support them all. It’s a scary business with no fortunes to be made. Their joy in the music and your love are the main sustenance.” –Davis Wilson
If you ever visited the Artists Quarter in St. Paul before it closed two years ago, you undoubtedly met Davis Wilson– the bearded, white-haired fellow sitting at the AQ entrance, taking your money for the night’s gig, chatting with the customers about anything from the music of the evening to politics. On a slow night you might have seen him reading the paper or recounting stories about the AQ (“Do you remember the night we were robbed?”). On a weekend or any night with a big crowd piled into the club to hear a big act the Pete Whitman X-Tet, the Tuesday Night Band, New York pianist Rick Germanson or perhap